bodie358

The main reason I no longer sell on eBay - I don't want to be held hostage by a bidder.

alimaui

I suppose the hostage thing can be a huge problem, but I hate feeling afraid to leave honest to goodness negative feedback, because of fear of retaliation.

Case in point-- I ordered an item from a seller. The seller's description says
"Will ship within three days." The seller shipped a week later.

The seller actually emailed me and asked me to leave feedback for her, When I explained that I wasn't planning to leave ANY feedback, because I was unhappy with her shipping timeframe, The seller told me that I those things happen on ebay, and for me to expect shipping in three days was unreasonable. SO I left NEUTRAL feedback, that just says seller shipped a week later.

Seller left me "neutral feedback" saying that I was impatient and not to do business with.

I am sure the seller has plenty of recourse with ebay if the buyer is trying to extort, but aside from that very small exception, what else could possibly go wrong for a seller that they would need to leave negative feedback? If the seller gets paid within three days then the buyer has completed their end of the deal. If the buyer does not complete, then they get a strike. Easy as that.

MTS

Ah, you'd be surprised how little recourse sellers have with eBay these days. Most of the changes in the last few years have been to "protect" the buyers. Well,sometimes the sellers need to be protected from them.

However, in your situation if the buyer thought it was unreasonable for you to expect shipping within 3 days, then he shouldn't have put that he would ship within 3 days in his damn listing. And that was a stupid explanation on his part too. Better to tell you the dog died and he couldn't get to the post office. Sheesh. I hope you dinged his stars, too. He's an idiot.

These days, eBay puts a lot of pressure on sellers to maintain a good star rating - you know, those annoying stars you have to click on when you leave feedback.
Based on those ratings, eBay will allow sellers to get better placement in the "best match" listing display, reduced fees for insertion and final value(?), get that snazzy "top seller' Logo on all the listings, and other goodies. And there are corresponding penalties for not performing well, as well.

Personally, I think most of the problems arise because there are sellers and buyers (new and not-new) who NEVER read the instructions or any how-to tutorials provided. They think - heck, I know whoe to order from Amazon, I'll just sign up on eBay and start bidding.

And then they make a best offer, but don't actually execute the BIN, and are pissed off at the seller because he didn't send an I'm sorry note. Well, if they would have read how the best offer feature works, they wouldn't have had that problem.
(And I'm not trying to beat up on the OP about this, just using it as an example.)

What about the newbie buyer who hits the BIN, and then decides he doesn't want the item? eBay is not Nordstroms, with a 3 year return policy. So the seller is out the time the item was already listed because he has to list it again. And now he has to get the buyer to agree - by going to a certain screen - to get the sale canceled so he can recoup his fees that he'll be billed for as eBay recognizes it as a valid sale, if he wants to be nice and let the buyer out of a binding contract. It's a time consuming PITA.

Or the buyer who didn't read the "fine print" in the listing and now wants to contest some of the terms AFTER they've already won the auction. Or asks, after they've won, is the blue more of a teal blue than purple blue because they really want a teal blue.

And I'm not letting all the sellers off the hook. They throw up listings (sometimes without ever having even BOUGHT an item). Let's say it's listed as an auction with a starting price of $.99 (because the insertion rate is cheaper). And people bid it up to a $30 final price at the end of the auction. But the widget is actually worth $300, and that's around what the seller thought he'd get. So he goes into the eBay forums crying because he doesn't want to sell it at that price. And gets eviscerated (it ain't pretty).

Well, idiot (the seller), if you had read the seller's tutorial, or asked BEFORE you listed the item, this would have been clear to you. :wink: You might have gotten some insight into certain strategies to use to make sure you don't end up giving your precious items away for bupkus.

And not to mention all the scam artists and trouble makers out there, although there does seem to be a lot less these days.

When you have a knowledgeable buyer AND seller, the transaction is a beautiful thing.

And my experience has been that fabric buyers are among the best because they generally know what they're getting - in terms of value, size and condition. In over 11 years, I really haven't had any problems (as a buyer or seller) in the fabric market.

Sorry about my incoherent rant. I'm cranky. :lol:

I guess what I'm trying to say (nicely) is that if you're going to play in that sandbox, it pays to learn the rules.

gale

Ditto. There are just as many bad bidders as sellers. If anyone wants examples, I have lots. (not personally but people I know).

AnnieH

I wouldn't give neg feedback but I'd be narked. Good luck with the new iron. You did a good vent!
Annie

phatquilts

Do not buy on e-bay, of course know of others who just love it for the convenience.
This has been an eye-opener, was not aware that there are so many ins & outs of buying. Miss not having a Nordstroms, etc. nearby. Browsing & shopping was some sort of physical exercise.